Skyrim; My Honest Review
review by
thingamajig
I'm seeing quite a few full flame reviews lately (Not just for Skyrim) and this troubles me somewhat.
Why? Well maybe I'm just hard to please, but i think that there's always room for improvement, no matter what the product is. Nothing can ever be a 100% perfect rating product as there will, inevitably, always be better - and what kind of review would this be if i didn't point out the faults?
Skyrim is no exception.
Now i do actually love this game, but quite a few things really glare out at me and bother me alot. So i'm going to start with the cons:
Cons:
1. Spells.
Totally lacking in this game, no variety, no mage class, nothing really. Total disappointment. Fortunately I've never been partial to the magic classes but even this troubled me.
2. Quests
Ok, not all of them were bad, some of them were great. But alot of them felt like rushed -- and consequently shallow -- experiences. The guilds for example, my god wasn't that over fast? Without going into great detail (i want to avoid spoilers) It's over before it feels like it's even begun.
It's also the inconsistency of the game and how things overlap that just...shouldn't. Being a thoroughbred evil bugger who goes around butchering innocents to then be suddenly let into one of these guilds, then ultimately call the shots shortly after joining? Just maddness. This bothered me in Oblivion and Morrowind and if anything, seems WORSE in Skyrim. No background checks? Boy you NPC's are trusting, and that leads me onto number 3:
3. NPC's
This video accurately summarizes my view on their behavior:
Walking down a street and having a random NPC share with me his life story is just awkward, and in it's own way quite comical - but the joke wears off quickly.
I get swamped with quests this way and it just makes me realize that there's better ways to introduce the player to quests without making NPC's come across as trusting, semi-******ed children.
In fact, the children in this game appear MORE intelligent then many of the adults!
This overall disposition NPC's had towards me (Too trusting and friendly) actually made those times when I was the victim quite refreshing and a much needed change. (The Argonian in Solitude, anyone?)
Bethesda, sort it out for the love of Pete.
4. Other
Things such as how every horse is essentially a clone of one another, no first person view on horseback, No talking on horseback, no environmental effects (such as cold damage during snowstorms/Diving into freezing water, etc) Poor bastardized interface and Dungeons/ruins frequently consisting of the same enemies over, and over, and over....The later levels (25+) make it almost intolerable.
PROS:
Well really everything we've grown to expect from a TES game will fit in here, the free roaming gameplay, the large game worlds, the vast content.
I'd also like to really praise the music in this game, which is a huge improvement over the past titles, as well as implemented brilliantly.
But for me, what really stands out is the modability and the potential that brings.
This is where this game will really pay off. And although we're still waiting on those mod tools, it's the mods that will make this game what it should've been, heck the Nexus is already filled with some much needed game changes. Just like for Oblivion/Fallout 3/ New Vegas.
You bought this on console? You're a fool.
Modding aside, Vanilla Skyrim has many hours of content to keep you amused (Far more then what most games would ever offer you), for this reason alone, it's a title worth getting without any doubt. Just don't expect not to get tired of the formula after hitting the later levels.
Pros | Cons |
---|
Everything you'd expect. | Bugs (as expected) Rushed quests, poor interface, |
Ratings